Method utilizing the tobacco phylloplanin promoter for expression of nucleic acids as gene products directed to aerial surfaces of plants

ABSTRACT

A method and system is provided for generating excreted gene products in a plant which includes generating a nucleic acid fusion construct comprising a phylloplanin promoter and a selected non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence whose transcription product is to be expressed and delivered to an aerial surface of a plant. The method includes transfecting plant cells with the nucleic acid fusion construct and allowing the plant cells to express the non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence transcription product which is then excreted from the plant cells to the aerial surfaces.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/777,383, filed Feb. 28, 2006, herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and system for delivering protein and protein products to plant surfaces and, in particular, a method and system for delivering protein products to plant surfaces using specific promoter sequences.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In plants, surface protection is an innate defensive strategy in which microbes are directly inhibited at their first point of host contact, usually at the boundary between the host and the external environment. While studies of chemical-based leaf surface protection in plants have focused on secreted secondary metabolites, e.g., glandular trichome exudates, animal studies have focused on secreted surface proteins deployed at host/pathogen interfaces such as skin or intestinal epithelia, as reported by Gallo and Huttner (1998); and Schroder (1999), both herein incorporated by reference.

Fungi and fungi-like, e.g., oomycete, pathogens are the major causes of plant disease, resulting in annual crop losses of ˜20% worldwide, forcing extensive control by synthetic fungicides. Many of these organisms reproduce via airborne spores and transiently exploit the plant leaf surface, or phylloplane, as a starting point for host ingress. Spores of the oomycete pathogen Peronospora tabacina, the causal agent of blue mold disease on several Nicotiana species, germinate on the leaf surface by forming a germination tube, and then penetrate the plant epidermal layer with an “infection peg.” For successful phylloplane germination to occur, spores must tolerate pre-formed biochemicals present on the leaf surface.

While some surface biochemicals are presumed to leach passively from the leaf interior, e.g., sugars, others are selectively biosynthesized by specialized epidermal cells for delivery to the phylloplane. Trichomes are simple or glanded epidermal appendages that occur on most plants. Glandular secreting trichomes are found on ˜30% of vascular plants, and they produce surface-accumulated exudates that usually contain hydrophobic isoprenoids and phenylpropanoids, the latter including flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, quinones, etc. In Solanaceae plants, amphipathic sugar esters are also commonly found in glandular trichome exudates. Such compounds have been associated with insect resistance in many plants, and pest resistance is often correlated with glandular trichome density. Two well-studied cases of glandular trichome-based insect resistance are found in the plant family Solanaceae. Sugar esters produced by tall glandular trichomes (TGSTs) of primitive tomato and potato species, and the diterpenoid cembratriene-ol produced by tobacco TGSTs, have been shown to inhibit aphid infestation. Antimicrobial activities of trichome exudate compounds, particularly monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids, have also been reported, but are less-studied than insect resistance.

In plants, the aerial surface is referred to as the phylloplane. In a region of the phylloplane referred to as the phyllosphere, a habitat is epitomized by specialized interactions between host plants and microorganisms, both pathogenic and epiphitic. Other regions of the phyllosphere may include epidermal cell wall spaces, the spaces inside guard cell and hydathode stoma, and leaf inner air space.

In Nicotiana tabacum, phylloplane structures include guard cells, hydathodes, simple trichomes, glandular secreting trichomes with their exudates, other epidermal cells, and the cuticle. Glandular secreting trichomes, guard cells and cuticular components have been studied, and their roles in pathogen and insect interactions have been reviewed. Recent attention has been given to molecular aspects of simple trichome differentiation and development in Arabidopsis and cotton, and the apparent roles of simple trichomes in microbial disease resistance, as affected by physical impedance to disease transmitting insects and water shedding, are documented in the literature. In contrast, the structure and function(s) of hydathodes are poorly understood, even though guttation, secretion of primarily, but not exclusively, water at the leaf surface, has been observed in many species.

The best studied tissue for secretion of antimicrobial components to the epidermal surface is the glandular secreting trichome. Perhaps 30% of vascular plants possess exudating glandular trichomes. Depending on the species, varying amounts of various biochemicals, often lipophylic, often terpenes, are produced, secreted, and accumulated by this specialized tissue type. A common form of glanded trichome is the peltate type, having an aggregate of one or more specialized gland tip cells attached by a stalk to aerial plant surfaces. Secreting trichome glands of this type produce and secrete exudate into the space outside gland cells, enclosed by a cuticle surrounding the gland. Exudate chemicals may escape this containment via pores referred to as striae in the cuticle, and run down the stalk onto the epidermal surface where they are thought to primarily serve the plant as anti-insect or anti-microbe defense agents, as described in Wagner, G. J., Wang, E., Shepherd, R. W. (2004) “New approaches for studying and exploiting an old protuberance, the plant trichome.” Annals of Botany 93: 3-11, herein incorporated by reference. Insects walking on the surface may disrupt the cuticle and become immobilized by viscous exudates, or poisoned. Airborne spores or moisture-facilitated motile spores or bacteria reaching the plant surface may contact trichome exudate that has been distributed on the surface. Thus, trichome exudation has been viewed as a first line of defense against pests and pathogens. Glandular trichome exudates may contain a wide variety of chemicals, many of which are terpenoids. Other exudate constituents are flavanoids, phenolics, and sugar esters. The amount of accumulated trichome exudate can vary widely with species and growth conditions. Hydathodes, like glandular secreting trichomes, are secreting structures that are positioned to deliver biochemicals to the leaf surface.

It has long been recognized that when the soil is moist and the air is cool and humid, leaves of many plants, particularly young leaves, will bear small liquid droplets at the leaf margin or distributed on the entire surface. This moisture is often mistaken for dew, but is generally thought to be guttated water, with some solute, presumed to be primarily inorganic salts. Hydathodes may be specialized single cells at leaf margins or stalked multicellular structures as found throughout the surface, often along veins and at vein junctures, on tobacco leaves. The most important feature of hydathodes that sets them apart from simple and glandular trichomes is their intimate connection to the xylem. The hydathode “gland” consists of very loose parenchyma cells located at the end of one more small veins. This tissue is called the epithem. In most hydathodes the epithem is surrounded by a layer of tight fitting cells called the sheath, which consists of cells that have cutinized, endodermis like, adjacent walls. It has been said that there is always at least one stoma, called a water pore, in hydathode sheaths. These pores are often larger than guard cell stoma and it is generally thought that in hydathodes of most plants, the pore cannot be closed, as described in Mauseth, J. D. (1988) Plant Anatomy, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., Inc., Chapter 9, pp. 141-166, herein incorporated by reference. A possible function of hydathodes in young leaves with immature and non-functioning stomata and poorly developed vascular tissues is to facilitate acquisition of an ample supply of mineral nutrients for rapid growth by removing xylem transported nutrients into the hydathode sheath cells while allowing the water to exit through the pore. Transfer cells with plasmalemma and cell wall ingrowths that are characteristic of cells engaged in massive solute membrane transport are found in hydathode sheath cells.

Much of what is known about the structure and function of hydathodes comes from the older literature and, while very important, it is largely descriptive and does not elucidate details about cell-level mechanisms of hydathode function. For example, the diversity of solutes that may be present in guttation water is not known, or how they are delivered to it, or if guttation is restricted to young leaves. Several recent studies using sensitive, cell-selective detection methods, such as promoter-GUS localization, show distinct chitinase gene expression in hydathodes, as well as several other tissues. Similarly, intense production of auxin in developing leaf hydathodes was correlated with vascular differentiation using a fusion of a highly active synthetic auxin response element with GUS. Also, using GUS fusions with arabidopsis purine transporter genes, evidence was obtained that these transporters may be involved in retrieval from vascular fluid of nucleobases and derivatives in hydathodes, presumably to prevent their loss by guttation. Using energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, it was recently shown that in tobacco plants exposed to very high Cd, hydathodes, called short trichomes, and also glandular trichomes, secrete Cd to the extent that Cd-containing crystals form on the external surfaces of these structures. Guttation fluid of barley, Hordeum vulgare, seedlings was recently shown to contain pathogenesis-related proteins, which, it was suggested, may inhibit motile bacteria entering the plant through open hydathode water pores. As in many grasses, leaf tips of barley seedlings have hydathodes with large water pores.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system for delivering protein and protein products to a plant surface using a phylloplanin promoter, in conjunction with a nucleic acid gene sequence, whose product one wishes to be excreted by a plant. The phylloplanin promoter provides for surface-localized proteins to be generated when the promoter is fused with the desired gene.

The present invention, in one form, relates to a method for generating excreted gene products in a plant. The method includes generating a nucleic acid fusion construct comprising a phylloplanin promoter and a selected non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence whose transcription product is to be expressed and delivered to an aerial surface of a plant. Plant cells are transfected using the nucleic acid fusion construct and the plant cells are allowed to express the non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence transcription product which is excreted from the plant cells. In one form, the phylloplanin promoter is from tobacco and has the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, as shown in FIG. 8.

The plant species to which the present method can be adapted, includes but in not limited to Medicago sp., Trifolium sp., Ulmus sp., Pyrus malus, Prunus armeniaca, Cynara acolymus, Asparagus officinale, Hordeum sp., Galium sp., Beta vulgaris, Prunus serotina, Vigna sinensis, Nyssa sylvatica, Quercus sp., Artocarpus altilis, Brassica sp., Andropogon scoparius, Fagopyrum sagittatum, Manihot esculenta, Apium graveolens, Agropyron desertorum, Cornus florida, Phaseolus sp., Triticum sp., Oenothera caespitosa, Carya sp., Lactuca sp., Impatiens sp., Helianthus sp., Ledum decumbens, Astragalus pattersoni, Setaria italica, Vaccinium mytrillus, Avena sativa, Petroselinum crispum, Pastinaca sativa, Pisum sp., Prunus sp., Pyrus communis, Musa paradisiaca, Astragalus preussii, Raphanus sativus, Secalse cereale, Sassafras albidum, Atriplex confertifolia, Tillandsia usneoides, Spinacia oleracea, Liquidambar styraciflua, Linaria triphylla, Liriodendron tulipfera, Vicia sp., Citrullus vulgaris, Melilotus sp., Salix sp., Rhus copallina, Nicotiana sp., Vitis sp., Datura sp., Medicago sp., Lycopersicon sp., Solanum sp., Capsicum sp., Cucumis sp., Fragaria sp., Petunia sp., Geranium sp., Coleus sp., Stevia sp., Oryza sp., Nepeta sp., Zea mays, Glycine max, and Arabidopsis thaliana.

The present invention, in another form thereof, relates to an isolated nucleic acid sequence comprising a nucleic acid fusion construct comprising a phylloplanin promoter and a selected non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence. The selected non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence may encode an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of a pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and a nutriceutical agent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A is a 40× magnification of TI 1068 phylloplane with tall glandular secreting trichomes (TGSTs) and short glandular trichome (SGTs) identified;

FIG. 1B is a Coomassie blue-stained SDS-PAGE of TI 1068-derived samples, in which phylloplanins I-IV are identified, and loaded volumes of LWW (lane d) and sterile-grown plant LWW (lane e) represent 25 cm² leaf surface area, and Mwt (lane a) denotes protein standards; and

FIG. 1C is a silver-stained SDS-PAGE of LWWs from field-grown TI 1068 (lane b; 10 cm²), G. max (lane c; 30 cm²), and H. annuus (lane d; 6 cm²), where Mwt (lane a) denotes protein standards.

FIG. 2A comprises panels (a)-(c), depicting P. tabacina spore germination assay (Pt), Coomassie blue-stained SDS-PAGE gel blot (sds), and protein gel blot with a 1:10,000 dilution of phylloplanin antiserum (w), wherein panel (a) is a gel water plus spores; panel (b) is a gel TI 1068 LWW (diluted to 100 ng/μL total protein) plus spores; and panel (c) is a gel TI 1068 LWW (100 ng/μL total protein) digested with proteinase K (ProtK) plus spores, where the arrow marks residual, soluble proteinase K; and

FIG. 2B comprises panels (a) and (b) for P. tabacina leaf infection assay of cv Petite Havana, where panel (a) is a photograph of water plus spores (10⁴ spores/mL), a sporulating lesion is indicated with the arrow; and panel (b) is a photograph of TI 1068 LWW (diluted to 50 ng/μL) plus spores (10⁴ spores/mL).

FIG. 3 is a plot depicting inhibition of P. tabacina spore germination (open circles) and leaf infection (closed squares) by T-phylloplanins in LWW, where, for both assays, results of a single experiment represent three separate experiments conducted.

FIG. 4 is the nucleotide (SEQ ID NO:19) and predicted amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:20) of T-Phylloplanin cDNA with nucleotide numbered on the right and start and stop codons underlined, and the signal sequence in bold-faced segments corresponding to peptides aa-N1, aa-T1, aa-T2, aa-T3, aa-T4, and aa-P1 marked by lines above the amino acid sequence and labeled.

FIG. 5A is the amino acid sequence of T-Phylloplanin aligned against sequences giving significant BLAST similarity scores, using the CLUSTALW algorithm of DNASTAR Lasergene software, where amino acids conserved between any six sequences are indicated in reverse contrast; and

FIG. 5B is an unrooted phylogenetic tree showing evolutionary relationships between the sequences in FIG. 5A with bootstrap values >50% given on the respective branches, where the first two letters of the acronyms indicate the species (Br, Brassica rapa; Ha, Helianthus annuus; At, Arabidopsis thaliana; Nt, Nicotiana tabacum; Gm, Glycine max; Pt, Populus tremuloides; Le, Lycopersicon esculentum; Os, Oryza sativa; St, Stevia tuberosum; Am, Antirrhinum majus; Sr, Stevia rebaudiana), where the GenBank accession numbers of the sequences follow the species identifiers, and tissue localizations of ESTs and cDNAs are indicated beneath the acronyms.

FIGS. 6A-6D depict Coomassie blue-stained SDS-PAGE western blots with 1:10,000 T-phylloplanin antiserum (w), and P. tabacina spore germination assays (Pt), where FIG. 6A is E. coli expressed MBP-PhyllP (M-P; 160 ng/μL total protein) treated with Factor-Xa, an arrow indicates released T-PhyllP; FIG. 6 b is E. coli expressed MBP-T-PhyllP (160 ng/μL total protein) treated with Factor-Xa and Proteinase-K (ProtK), where the volume used was equivalent to that of FIG. 6A; FIG. 6 c is E. Coli expressed MBP (M; 200 ng/μL total protein) treated with Factor-Xa; and FIG. 6D is E. Coli expressed MBP (200 ng/μL total protein) treated with Factor-Xa and ProtK, where the volume used was equivalent to that used in the experiment of FIG. 6C.

FIG. 7A is a magnification of a 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-glucuronic acid-stained plantlet leaf from TI 1068 with GUS under the control of the T-phylloplanin promoter, where TGSTs are indicated;

FIG. 7B is X-gluc stained SGT on TI 1068 plantlet expressing GUS under control of T-phylloplanin promoter, where surface structures are indicated; and

FIG. 7C is fluorescent magnification/detection of TI 1068 plantlet with GFP under control of T-phylloplanin promoter, where GFP was present only in SGT gland cells, and arrows indicate constrictions between gland cells that we speculate may be pores to release protein to the leaf surface.

FIG. 8 depicts the promoter sequence of the gene Phylloplanin (SEQ ID NO:1), having a putative TATA box (−33 to −30) and a putative CAAT box (−47 to −43) bold-faced, where the phylloplanin transcription start site (+1) is indicated bold-faced and underlined, the phylloplanin start codon (+48) is underlined, and a portion of the phylloplanin amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:18) is indicated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The generation of excreted gene products using a phylloplanin promoter to express and deliver the desired product to a plant's aerial surface was developed from studying gene promoter sequences from plants, such as tobacco, where the expression of genes in plants is controlled by a number of regulatory components, including nucleic acid and protein elements, and where the initiation is controlled by a region commonly referred to as a “promoter,” which lies upstream (5′) of the protein in the coating region. The phylloplanin gene promoter has previously been isolated and sequenced from the surface of plant leaves, and was further found to essentially control the production of proteins known as phylloplanin in plants, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/304,528, herein incorporated by reference.

The promoter sequence of the gene phylloplanin is provided in FIG. 8. The phylloplanin promoter drives the secretion of gene products to leaf aerial surfaces. As used throughout this disclosure, the surface-localized proteins referred to as tobacco phylloplanins are generated in nature from the novelty-phylloplanin promoter from N. tabacum.

The T-phylloplanin promoter can be inserted into various plant species to drive desired protein product to plant aerial surfaces, which includes, but is not limited to Medicago sp., Trifolium sp., Ulmus sp., Pyrus malus, Prunus armeniaca, Cynara acolymus, Asparagus officinale, Hordeum sp., Galium sp., Beta vulgaris, Prunus serotina, Vigna sinensis, Nyssa sylvatica, Quercus sp., Artocarpus altilis, Brassica sp., Andropogon scoparius, Fagopyrum sagittatum, Manihot esculenta, Apium graveolens, Agropyron desertorum, Cornus florida, Phaseolus sp., Triticum sp., Oenothera caespitosa, Carya sp., Lactuca sp., Impatiens sp., Helianthus sp., Ledum decumbens, Astragalus pattersoni, Setaria italica, Vaccinium mytrillus, Avena sativa, Petroselinum crispum, Pastinaca sativa, Pisum sp., Prunus sp., Pyrus communis, Musa paradisiaca, Astragalus preussii, Raphanus sativus, Secalse cereale, Sassafras albidum, Atriplex confertifolia, Tillandsia usneoides, Spinacia oleracea, Liquidambar styraciflua, Linaria triphylla, Liriodendron tulipfera, Vicia sp., Citrullus vulgaris, Melilotus sp., Salix sp., Rhus copallina, Nicotiana sp., Vitis sp., Datura sp., Medicago sp., Lycopersicon sp., Solanum sp., Capsicum sp., Cucumis sp., Fragaria sp., Petunia sp., Geranium sp., Coleus sp., Stevia sp., Oryza sp., Nepeta sp., Zea mays, Glycine max, and Arabidopsis thaliana.

As discussed in further detail below, evidence that the phylloplanin can be used to drive plant aerial secretion of desired gene products is provided by experiments using the T-phylloplanin promoter, fused with reporter genes beta-glucuronidase and green fluorescent protein, in which biosynthesis was directed only in apical-tip cell clusters of short, procumbent glandular trichomes. Accordingly, the reporter gene studies provide evidence for a method and system for directing protein excretion to a plant's aerial surfaces, thus allowing one to use the T-phylloplanin to drive the excretion of desired protein products to plant aerial surfaces.

The following non-limiting experiments are included to provide additional understanding and evidence which supports the present invention, but in no way limits its scope.

Referring now to FIGS. 1A-1C, SDS-PAGE analyses of leaf water wash (LWW) from greenhouse-grown TI 1068 leaves indicated the presence of four bands with molecular masses of 16 (I), 19 (II), 21 (III), and 25 (IV) kDa (FIG. 1B, lane d), collectively termed T-phylloplanins. T-Phylloplanins in LWW were relatively pure and abundant, compared to proteins present in leaf epidermal cells (FIG. 1B, lane b) or leaf extracellular fluid (FIG. 1B, lane c), providing evidence of selective deployment on the phylloplane. Sterile-grown TI 1068 LWW contained T-phylloplanins (FIG. 1B, lane e), indicating these proteins were not formed by leaf surface microbes and were not induced by pathogen attack. From measurement of the protein concentration in LWW (BCA assay), an estimate was made that the phylloplane of greenhouse-grown TI 1068 leaves contains 100-200 ng protein/square-cm leaf surface. Field-grown TI 1068 LWW also contained T-phylloplanins, indicating that leaf surface proteins are present under natural conditions (FIG. 1C, lane b), and T-phylloplanins were renewed after washing (data not shown). N. tabacum cultivars TI 112 and TI 1406 that lack TGSTs or secretion, respectively, produce substantial T-phylloplanins (data not shown), so diterpene/sugar ester producing TGSTs are not the site of T-phylloplanin biosynthesis. Field-grown soybean and sunflower LWWs contained varying amounts of phylloplanins (FIG. 1C, lanes c-d), as did greenhouse-grown corn, tomato, soybean, and potato (data not shown), but these proteins were not further characterized. LWW of frozen TI 1068 leaves that were cold-brushed to completely remove TGSTs and SGTs contained a similar amount of T-phylloplanins per unit surface area to that found in LWW of undisturbed leaves, indicating that T-phylloplanins are not restricted to SGTs but are rather generally dispersed on the leaf surface. T-Phylloplanins Inhibit Peronospora tabacina Spore Germination and Leaf Infection

P. tabacina is an oomycete pathogen that reproduces via airborne spores, and initial host contact and spore deposition commences at the phylloplane. LWW from greenhouse-grown TI 1068 plants inhibited P. tabacina spore germination (FIG. 2A, panel b; LD₅₀˜15-20 ng/μL [50 spores/μL]), as did LWW from sterile-grown plants (data not shown). Protein digestion by immobilized Proteinase K relieved inhibition of spore germination (FIG. 2A, panel c), indicating that proteins were necessary for inhibition. Spore germination was not affected by water incubated with immobilized Proteinase K (data not shown). Also, once spore germination was initiated, addition of LWW (100 ng/μL total protein) immediately arrested germination tube growth and development (data not shown). Using GC, the levels of residual exudate diterpenes found in LWW (data not shown) were < 1/10 of the LD₅₀ reported to inhibit P. tabacina germination, and nicotine was unable to be detected in LWW (data not shown).

Intact N. tabacum Petite Havana SR1 plants, considered susceptible to P. tabacina, were infected by applying spores (50 spores/μL in 4 μL water) to the leaf surface. After 5 days, sporulating lesions developed at sites of application (FIG. 2B, panel a). T-phylloplanins in TI 1068 LWW, when mixed with spores at total protein concentrations of 50 ng/μL or higher, inhibited leaf infection by P. tabacina (FIG. 2B, panel b). At 25 ng/μL total protein, 75% inhibition was observed, and no inhibition occurred with titrations below 12.5 ng/μL total protein (data not shown). Similar results were observed in three independent experiments and in identical experiments using the susceptible cultivar KY 14 (data not shown).

Referring now to FIG. 3, the graph shows the inhibitory effect of T-phylloplanins in LWW on P. tabacina spore germination and leaf infection. LWWs of Petite Havana and KY 14 contain less phylloplanins I-IV than TI 1068, and unlike TI 1068 they produce low trichome exudate (data not shown). Based on these results, it is believed that other surface chemicals (e.g., surface lipids or TGST trichome exudate components) may influence or accentuate phylloplanin activity, dispersion, or longevity, by acting as adducts or as solubilizing agents. Thus a combination of T-phylloplanins and high TGST exudates may provide maximal inhibition of spore germination. It is difficult to estimate the role of a single component such as T-phylloplanins in blue mold susceptibility or resistance, outside the experimental conditions used here, but we propose that T-phylloplanins are a key component.

Isolation of the Novel T-Phylloplanin Gene

N. tabacum T-phylloplanins I, II, III, and IV share an identical N-terminal amino acid sequence (Table).

TABLE Peak T-phyllo- SEQ ID Method (min) planin Amino Acid Sequence NOs. Name N- N/A I ILVPTLVST SEQ ID term- NO:21 inus N/A II ILVPTLVSTHISGLVF- SEQ ID aa-N1 CSV NO:22 N/A III ILVPTLVSTHISGLVF- SEQ ID aa-N1 CSV NO:23 N/A IV ILVPTLVSTHISGLVF- SEQ ID aa-N1 CSV (major) NO:24 Trypsin 36.2 I ASVQLR SEQ ID aa-T1 NO:25 59.8 I ILNLNI (major) SEQ ID aa-T4 NO:26 CGATNVISSTIT SEQ ID aa-T2 (minor) NO:27 56.7 III LVVATPLSTCxATLx- SEQ ID aa-T3 SVG NO:28 58.7 III ILNLNI (major) SEQ ID aa-T4 NO:29 CGATxVxSSTIT SEQ ID aa-T2 (minor) NO:30 Pepsin 35 I, II, IRVGLAPTG SEQ ID aa-P1 III, NO:31 IV Amino acid sequences recovered from T-phylloplanin N-terminal analyses, trypsin digestion, and pepsin digestion. N/A, not applicable.

Internal amino acid sequences were elucidated from peptides generated by trypsin digestion of T-Phylloplanins II and IV, and pepsin digestion of total LWW (Table). Degenerate, deoxyinosine-containing primers were synthesized and used in RT-PCR with cDNA generated from N. tabacum total leaf RNA as a template, and a 332 base pair fragment was amplified. RLM-RACE was used to recover a full-length, novel N. tabacum T-Phylloplanin cDNA sequence (SEQ ID NO:9) (FIG. 4; Accession AY705384) of 666 base pair in length, encoding a hydrophobic, basic (50% hydrophobicity, estimated pl 9.3, Vector NTI) 15.4 kDa protein containing 150 amino acids. Based on the N-terminus recovered from the mature T-phylloplanin (lle-24) the first 23 amino acids comprise a signal sequence that targets the protein to the secretory pathway. The molecular mass of the mature protein is estimated to be ˜13 kDa. A protein of this mass was not recovered from the leaf surface but, instead, four apparent bands of higher molecular masses were recovered. While differences in amino acid composition may account for differences in migration, the molecular masses of native T-phylloplanins I-IV could be increased due to the occurrence of covalent adducts with cuticular lipids, or trichome exudate diterpenes or sugar esters. These covalent adducts would be retained in SDS-PAGE, and they could serve to increase phylloplanin solubility in TGST exudate (diterpenes and sugar esters) and aid in phylloplanin dispersion on the leaf surface. Amphipathic sugar esters (˜24% of TI 1068 weight) are known to solubilize largely hydrophobic diterpenes (˜73%) of TGST exudate. Highly hydrophobic, basic, saposin-like proteins of animals (see below) also display anomalous migration in SDS-PAGE (Curstedt et al., 1987), which provides evidence that T-phylloplanins may behave similarly.

BLAST searches conducted in accordance with Altschul et al. (1990) with the T-Phylloplanin gene sequence against the non-redundant and EST GenBank databases yielded several significant hits from Nicotiana sequences, including an AFLP fragment from N. tabacum (GenBank accession number AJ538724) and several EST sequences from N. tabacum and N. sylvestris. BLAST searches also indicated that homologous genes of unknown functions exist in many other plants. A ClustalW alignment (DNASTAR software, Madison, Wis.) between T-Phylloplanin and selected sequences giving significant tBLASTn scores from various other plant species (FIG. 5A) indicated that regions of amino acid identity exist and possibly represent conserved motifs.

An unrooted phylogenetic tree is provided in FIG. 5B to show evolutionary relationships between these sequences and to indicate the tissue localizations of ESTs. The tree indicates that T-phylloplanin groups with similar sequences from other solanaceous plants that also bear glandular secreting trichomes, and it is intriguing that the S. tuberosum gene is expressed in floral tissue which may bear trichomes. Similar sequences from the monocots O. sativa and H. vulgare also form a distinct group in the phylogenetic tree, with the gene from H. vulgare being expressed in root tissue. The genomic structure of gene T-Phylloplanin was elucidated from N. tabacum genomic DNA using a Genomewalker kit. The gene contains two exons (1:175 bp; 2:278 bp) that are separated by a 508 bp intron (data not shown).

E. coli-expressed T-Phylloplanin Inhibits Peronospora tabacina

A 10.3 kDa portion of the T-Phylloplanin gene (T-PhyllP) was expressed in E. coli as a fusion protein with MBP. Soluble fusion protein (MBP-T-PhyllP) was purified on an amylose column, cut with the protease Factor Xa to release T-PhyllP, and desalted on a 3 kDa centrifugal filter. Both MBP-T-PhyllP and T-PhyllP reacted with the phylloplanin-specific antibody, as shown in FIGS. 6A-6D. The sample containing T-PhyllP inhibited P. tabacina spore germination at total protein concentrations greater than 160 ng/μL (FIG. 6A). Protease digestion relieved T-PhyllP inhibition of spore germination (FIG. 6B). A control sample containing MBP alone, produced by an empty pMal-c2x vector and treated exactly as the T-PhyllP sample, had no effect on spore germination (FIG. 6C), nor did protease-treated MBP (FIG. 6D), at total protein concentrations <500 ng/μL. No inhibition of spore germination was observed with MBP-T-PhyllP fusion protein not treated with Factor Xa (data not shown). Based on the data, the released T-PhyllP is responsible for the observed inhibition, and since it is evident (FIG. 6A, SDS gel) that released-T-PhyllP is a minor component of the sample (<10% total protein), the inhibitory concentration of T-PhyllP is considered <<160 ng/μL. T-PhyllP was lost when purification from MBP and Factor Xa was attempted (data not shown).

In leaf infection assays performed with KY 14 plants, T-PhyllP did not totally inhibit infection, but it greatly reduced necrotic leaf damage. MBP and uncut MBP-T-PhyllP fusion samples allowed successful infections (data not shown). The lack of total inhibition with T-PhyllP may be due to insufficient protein concentration, the absence of another interacting protein, or alternatively, speculated-adducts with lipids or trichome exudate components are essential for a native-protein like response.

The T-Phylloplanin Promoter Region Directs Expression in Small Glandular Trichomes

1.8 kb of genomic DNA sequence upstream from the T-Phylloplanin transcription start site was elucidated. A 1.1 kb region of this DNA, as well as the 5′UTR and the T-Phylloplanin signal sequence, was fused in-frame with the reporter genes β-glucuronidase (GUS) and Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and introduced into TI 1068 plants using Agrobacterium mediated transformation. GUS and GFP were expressed only in SGTs (FIGS. 7A-7C), indicating activity of a SGT-specific promoter. There was no evidence that GUS or GFP exit the SGTs. This is not surprising in that these reporter proteins are water soluble. TI 1068 SGTs are uniformly distributed over the leaf surface and protrude over surrounding epidermal cells (FIG. 7A). The data provides evidence that T-phylloplanins are biosynthesized locally in SGTs and are secreted to the leaf surface where, because of their hydrophobicity and basicity, T-phylloplanins dissolve in TGST exudate and are dispersed widely on the leaf surface during exudate flow. Certain animal saposin proteins are also highly hydrophobic and basic, are secreted by epithelial cells, and operate as components of innate immunity at the pulmonary air/water interface.

Ultrastructural studies defined the subcellular structures of N. tabacum cv. Xanthi SGTs and TGSTs. Glands of procumbent SGTs were observed to have about four cells separated by large, specifically-oriented intracellular spaces that contained substantial OsO₄ stained material. The nature of the accumulated substance was not defined, but it is believed that this substance is T-phylloplanins, since the pattern of intracellular space disposition observed is strikingly similar to that which we have observed here using the T-phylloplanin-promoter-GFP construct (FIG. 7C). All tobaccos examined but one, smooth leaf N. glauca, produce phylloplanins. The data provides evidence that T-phylloplanins are produced in SGT gland cells, and that they are secreted to gland extracellular spaces, and then transferred outside the glands through constrictions at termini of intracellular spaces forming “secretory pores” (arrows, FIG. 7C) of unknown structure.

The majority of plant pathogens are fungi. When airborne spores land on a leaf surface, germination is the initial step leading to host colonization. It is hypothesized that by rapidly inhibiting spore germination at the leaf surface, preformed plant proteins may suppress pathogen infection before induced defenses become functional, in a manner analogous to secreted surface proteins of animals. This hypothesis is supported by the observations that surface-accumulated N. tabacum T-phylloplanins and E. coli-expressed T-PhyllP inhibit P. tabacina spore germination in vitro and limit leaf infection in situ. The hypothesis is also supported by the observation that the T-phylloplanin promoter directs reporter gene expression specifically in SGTs, and T-phylloplanins are retained on leaves from which trichomes were completely removed by brushing of frozen tissue.

The aforementioned observations provide evidence that T-phylloplanins are secreted to and broadly dispersed on the leaf surface. Three observations link the gene T-Phylloplanin to T-phylloplanin proteins collected from the leaf surface. First, all amino acid sequences recovered from leaf surface T-phylloplanins I-IV are present in the predicted protein sequence from T-Phylloplanin, representing 54% of the mature protein open reading frame. Secondly, there is a functional link between the gene and the proteins by replicating LWW blue mold inhibition with E. coli-expressed T-PhyllP. The T-phylloplanin promoter is a third, critical link between the gene and surface disposed T-phylloplanins, and implicates SGTs as the sites of T-phylloplanin biosynthesis and delivery to the surface.

Secreted phylloplanins, e.g., T-phylloplanins, represent a novel leaf surface defense system in tobaccos, and perhaps generally in the plant kingdom, wherein protein biosynthesis in a specific trichome type allows deposition and dispersion of phylloplanins on leaf aerial surfaces to deter pathogen establishment. Further, from the collected data, the T-phylloplanin promoter can be used to direct protein products to plant aerial surfaces.

Methods

Biological material and growth conditions. Greenhouse plants (Nicotiana tabacum L. tobacco introduction, (TI) 1068, TI 1112, TI 1406; cultivars KY 14 and Petite Havana SR1 [hereafter referred to by TI number or cultivar name]) were germinated and grown in soil under natural light at 22-24° C. with weekly fertilization (20-20-20, N-P-K). Plants were transplanted into 15-cm pots and treated with the insecticide Marathon (Olympic Horticultural Products, Mainland, Pa.) at 3-4 wk post-emergence. Field plants (TI 1068, Glycine max, Helianthus annus) were grown at a farm near Lexington, Ky. during the 2002 growing season.

To grow sterile TI 1068 plants, seeds were immersed in 10% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite for 10 min, rinsed briefly in 70% (v/v) ethanol, washed 4 times in sterile water, and germinated on Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) containing B5 vitamins (100 mg/L myo-inositol, 10 mg/L thiamine-HCl, and 1 mg/L each pyridoxine-HCl and nicotinic acid) in a 22° C. growth chamber under fluorescent illumination (light/dark 16/8 h daily). Individual plants were transferred to PlantCons (ICN Biomedicals, Aurora, Ohio) containing MS agar at 3 weeks post-emergence.

E. coli strain ER2508 (New England Biolabs, Beverly, Mass.) was stored and propagated as described by the supplier. Spores of Peronospora tabacina (isolate KY-79) were harvested from sporulating lesions on KY 14 plants as described (Reuveni et al., 1986).

Phylloplanin collection and SDS-PAGE. Water-soluble phylloplane components were collected in LWWs from mature, fully-expanded leaves of all greenhouse-grown and field-grown plants by washing freshly-detached leaves in 200 mL nanopure water for 15 s (NANOpure water system D4751, Barnstead/Thermolyne, Dubuque, Iowa). Cut petioles or cut leaf surfaces were not exposed to wash solutions.

LWWs were filtered (No. 1 filter paper, WHATMAN, Clifton, N.J.), lyophylized to dryness, resuspended in 3 mL sterile water, and centrifuged at 12,000×g for 5 min at 21° C. The supernatants were filtered (13 mm/0.45-μm syringe filter, Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y.) to exclude bacteria and fungi.

Proteins were separated by SDS/12%/glycine-PAGE (Laemmli, 1970) or SDS/15%/tricine-PAGE (Judd, 1994) using a MINI PROTEAN II electrophoresis system (BIO-RAD Hercules, Calif.), according to the manufacturer's instructions, and visualized with Coomassie blue or silver staining.

Protein concentration was estimated using the bicinchoninic acid assay (Pierce Chemical, Rockford, Ill.) with BSA as a standard. Leaf surface areas were estimated by tracing leaves onto uniform-weight paper and weighing the cutouts.

Collection of epidermal peels and extracellular fluid (EF). Epidermal peels were prepared from greenhouse-grown TI 1068 plants as described (Kandra et al., 1990), pulverized with liquid N₂, and proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. EF was collected using a vacuum infiltration method (Terry and Bonner, 1980) and analyzed by SDS-PAGE.

GC analysis. Trichome exudate was collected from greenhouse-grown TI 1068 by immersing unwashed leaves for 15 s in 200 mL acetonitrile. The wash solutions were filtered (No. 1 filter paper, Whatman), dried, and trichome exudate was resuspended in 5 mL acetonitrile and quantified by GC (flame ionization detection) as trimethylsilyl derivatives prepared in dimethylformamide, as previously described (Wang et al., 2001). To determine the amounts of trichome exudate biochemicals occurring in LWW, volumes equivalent to 200 cm² leaf surface areas were transferred to glass GC vials and dried in a vacuum oven (37° C.) overnight. Trichome exudate biochemicals were extracted at 21° C. with methylene chloride, dried, solubilized, derivatized, and analyzed by GC. The amount of residual trichome exudate biochemicals in LWW was assessed relative to total trichome exudate on an equivalent surface area basis.

T-Phylloplanin aa sequencing. Proteins in greenhouse-grown TI 1068 LWW were separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred to polyvinyldifluoride (IMMOBILON—PSQ, Millipore, Bedford, Mass.) using a MINI PROTEAN II electroblot apparatus (BIO-RAD), and visualized with Coomassie blue. T-Phylloplanin bands were subjected to N-terminal sequencing using automated Edman degradation (Matsudaira, 1987) at the University of Kentucky Macromolecular Structure Analysis Facility (Lexington, Ky.). To recover internal amino acid sequence information, LWW from greenhouse-grown TI 1068 was separated by SDS-PAGE, stained with Coomassie blue, and 21 kDa and 19 kDa bands were excised and digested with trypsin. Total proteins in TI 1068 LWW were also digested with pepsin. Resulting tryptic or peptic peptides were separated by reversed-phase HPLC (Aquapore RP-300 7 μm particle size, octyl reversed-phase column [Applied Biosystems, San Jose, Calif.]), manually collected based on absorbance at 214 nm, and samples were reduced in volume under vacuum to ˜50 μL. Amino acid sequence analyses of tryptic peptides were performed as above. For peptic peptides, similar analyses were performed at The Protein Facility of Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa).

Degenerate RT-PCR, RLM-RACE, and Elucidation of Genomic Structure. Total RNA was extracted from TI 1068 leaf tissue (100 mg fresh weight [FW]) with an RNEASY kit (Qiagen, Chatsworth, Calif.), and cDNA was synthesized from 5 μg total RNA using an Omniscript RT kit (Qiagen). PCR was performed using PCR master mix (Promega, Madison, Wis.) containing 3 μL cDNA template and 4 μM of each primer in a 50 μL volume. Successful amplification of a PCR product occurred with the primers 5′-ACWTTNGTNTCNACWCATATYTCNGGNCTNGTYTTTTG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:2) and 5′-AARAANCCIGTNGGNGCNARNCCNACYCTAAT-3′ (SEQ ID NO:3) where N=Inosine, W=A or T, Y=C or T, and R=A or G. Amplification was for 46 cycles using the following thermal profile: 95° C. for 45 s, 50° C. for 45 s, 72° C. for 1 min, followed by a final 4 min extension at 72° C. The PCR product was size-fractionated by electrophoresis in a 1% (w/v) agarose gel, extracted using a QIAEX II kit (QIAGEN), cloned into a pGem-T vector (Promega), and sequenced.

For RNA ligase mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RLM-RACE), total RNA was extracted from TI 1068 leaf tissue, as above. A GENERACER kit (Invitrogen, Grand Island, N.Y.) containing SUPERSCRIPT III was used to generate cDNAs, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Successful amplification of a 3′RACE product occurred with the GENERACER 3′Primer and the gene-specific primer 5′-CTCAGTCCCCAAGTTTTTCCTAATGCATCAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:4). Successful amplification of a 5′RACE product occurred with the GeneRacer 5′Primer and the gene-specific primer 5′-GGCCAAGAAAGTTAACTAGCTGATGCATA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:5). PCR cycling parameters were according to the GENERACER protocol.

T-Phylloplanin genomic structure was elucidated using a GENOMEWALKER kit (Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.), according to the manufacturer's protocol, using genomic DNA isolated from TI 1068 leaf tissue (100 mg FW) with a DNEASY plant kit (QIAGEN). Primary PCR reactions were performed with a sense outer adaptor primer AP1, provided in the kit, and the antisense T-Phylloplanin-specific primer (5′-TGGAACMGTATGGCAAATGCAGCGGGG-3′) (SEQ ID NO:6). Primary PCR cycling parameters were 7 cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 72° C., followed by 32 cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 67° C., with a final extension of 7 min at 67° C. Products of primary PCR were diluted 1:25 and 1 μL was used in nested PCR reactions with a sense inner adaptor primer (AP2), provided in the kit, and a nested antisense T-Phylloplanin-specific primer (5′-GGGGGTTGCGATTAATGCAGCCAAAAGGAAAA-3′) (SEQ ID NO:7). Nested PCR cycling parameters were 5 cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 72° C., followed by 20 cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 67° C., with a final extension of 7 min at 67° C. Amplified PCR products were amplified, size fractionated by gel electrophoresis, gel-extracted, cloned into pGem-T, and sequenced.

Expression vector construction and fusion protein purification. To overexpress the T-Phylloplanin gene in E. coli, a 10.3 kDa portion of the coding sequence (His33-Gly142, termed PhyllP) and the full-length mature protein coding sequence (lle24-Asn150) were amplified incorporating XbaI and PstI restriction sites (PhyllP-sense: 5′-AGCTTCTAGACATATTTCGGGGCTGGTTTT (SEQ ID NO:8); PhyllP-antisense: 5′-AGCTCTGCAGTTAGCCGGTGGGGGCGAGGCC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:9); Full-sense: 5′-AGCTTCTAGAATACTTGTTCCAACACT-3′ (SEQ ID NO:10); Full-antisense: 5′-AGCTCTGCAGTTAATTGATGTTAAGA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:11); restriction sites underlined). The PCR products were digested with XbaI and PstI and cloned into the pMal-c2x expression vector (New England Biolabs) to create a translation fusion between the gene inserts and malE (which encodes Maltose Binding Protein [MBP]). Protein expression was induced at 0.5 OD₆₀₀ by the addition of 0.1 mM isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside. Cells were harvested and resuspended in column binding buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 200 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA) containing 1 mg/mL lysozyme. Cell lysate was centrifuged at 10,000×g for 10 min and the resulting supernatant was collected. Fusion protein was purified using amylose-mediated column chromatography (New England Biolabs) according to the manufacturer's instructions and examined by SDS-PAGE. Fractions containing purified fusion protein were pooled and concentrated to ˜1 mg/mL using a 3 kDa centrifugal filter (MICROSEP 3K, OMEGA Pall Laboratories, Ft. Myers, Fla.). Factor Xa (New England Biolabs) was added and samples were incubated for 48 h at 21° C. Salts and buffer components were removed using a 3 kDa centrifugal filter, and protein concentration was adjusted to 1 mg/mL with the addition of sterile water.

T-Phylloplanin antibody and western blots. TI 1068 LWW was separated by SDS-PAGE and stained with Coomassie Blue. Phylloplanin III was excised and used to generate a rabbit polyclonal antibody (Strategic Biosolutions, Newark, Del.). Immunodetection was performed using a 1:10,000 dilution of phylloplanin antiserum and a 1:10,000 dilution of horseradish peroxidase-coupled anti-rabbit secondary antibody (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.).

Protease treatment. Insoluble Proteinase K (ProtK) affixed to acrylic beads (100 mg; P0803, Sigma) was placed into mini-spin filters (732-6027, BIO-RAD). The filters containing beads were placed into empty 1.5 mL Eppendorf tubes, and the filters were washed with sterile water (700 μL; 2600×g for 1 min). The flow-through was discarded, and washing was repeated five times. The spin filters were transferred to empty 1.5 mL Eppendorf tubes. Samples were added to filters containing protease beads and incubated at 37° C. for 4 h, with periodic inversion to mix. The tubes were then centrifuged at 2600×g for 10 min, and the flow-through from each was collected and analyzed by SDS-PAGE or used in blue mold assays.

Peronospora tabacina spore germination and leaf infection assays. Freshly-collected P. tabacina spores were mixed with various concentrations of TI 1068 LWW, ProtK-treated TI 1068 LWW, or water incubated with ProtK, and germinated for 16 h in dark, humidified chambers as water drops (4 μL drops; 50 spores/μL) on microscope slides. The spores were then inspected visually at 100× magnification for germination. The absence of a germination tube after 16 h indicated inhibition. Similar experiments were performed with T-PhyllP, MBP, ProtK-treated T-PhyllP, and ProtK-treated MBP. To assess the immediacy of germination tube arrest by LWW, spores were observed after 3 h.

For the leaf infection assay, 6-wk-old, greenhouse-grown Petite Havana SR1 plants were pre-conditioned by incubation in a 21° C. growth room (14 h light) for 5 days. Dilution series (1, 5, 12.5, 25, 50, 75, 100 ng protein/μL) of TI 1068 LWW were prepared and mixed with freshly-collected P. tabacina spores immediately before inoculation. For each LWW dilution, 8-10 drops (4 μL drops; 100 spores/μL) were applied to one leaf of pre-conditioned plants. Plants were placed in dark, humidified chambers for 16 h to provide optimal conditions for infection, and then returned to the growth room. Treated leaves were excised 5 days after inoculation, placed in dark, humid chambers for 16 h, and then inspected for sporulation. The formation of P. tabacina sporulating lesions indicated successful leaf infection.

Elucidation of T-phylloplanin promoter sequence and activity. Genomic DNA was isolated from TI 1068 leaf tissue (100 mg FW) using a DNEASY plant mini kit (QIAGEN). The DNA sequence upstream of the T-Phylloplanin gene was recovered using a GENOMEWALKER kit (Clontech), according to the manufacturer's protocol. Briefly, ˜4 μg genomic DNA was digested to completion (36 h) in four separate reactions with restriction enzymes that generated blunt ends (Dra I, EcoR V, Pvu II, Stu II). The resulting ‘libraries’ were purified by phenol/chloroform extraction and precipitation. Digested genomic DNA in each library were then ligated to 5′GenomeWalker Adaptor molecules and purified again. A primary PCR reaction for each library was performed with a sense outer adaptor primer AP1, provided in the kit, and the antisense T-Phylloplanin-specific primer (5′-TGGAACAAGTATGGCAAATGCAGCGGGG-3′) (SEQ ID NO:6). Primary PCR cycling parameters were seven cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 72° C., followed by 32 cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 67° C., with a final extension of 7 min at 67° C. Products of primary PCR were diluted 1:25 and 1 μL was used in nested PCR reactions with a sense inner adaptor primer AP2, provided in the kit, and a nested antisense T-Phylloplanin-specific primer (5′-GGGGGTTGCGATTAATGCAGCCAAAAGGAAAA-3′) (SEQ ID NO:7). Nested PCR cycling parameters were five cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 72° C., followed by 20 cycles of 25 s at 94° C. and 3 min at 67° C., with a final extension of 7 min at 67° C. A 1.8 kB product was amplified from the Stu II-based library, and gel-extracted, cloned into pGem-T, and sequenced.

PCR using a T-Phylloplanin promoter-specific sense primer (5′-TGCTCCCACCACTAGAATCACCA-3′) (SEQ ID NO:12) and a T-Phylloplanin—specific antisense primer with an Xba I cut site (5′-AGCTTCTAGATGTTGGAACAAGTATGG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:13); Xba I site underlined) was then used to amplify the region of N. tabacum genomic DNA that included the first 25 aa of the T-phylloplanin protein (which included the signal sequence), the 5′ UTR, and a further 1.1 kB upstream. The PCR product was then cut with Xba I and HinD III (at a restriction site endogenous to the promoter) and cloned into the HinD III/Xba I-sites of PBIMC (kindly provided by D. Falcone, pBIMC is a variant of pBI121 modified to include a polylinker in place of the GUS gene) to replace the CaMV-35S promoter and create the vector pBI-PhylloProm. To analyze the spatial expression of the promoter, the reporter genes GUS and sGFP (kindly provided by D. Falcone) were PCR-amplified with primers that incorporated Xba I and Xho I restriction sites (GUS-sense: 5′-AGCTTCTAGAATGTTACGTCCTGTAGAAACCCCA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:14); GUS-antisense: 5′-AGCTCTCGAGTCATTGTTTGCCTCCCTGCT-3′ (SEQ ID NO:15); sGFP-sense: 5′-AGCTTCTAGAATGGTGAGCAAGGGCGAGGA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:16); sGFP-antisense: 5′-AGCTCTCGAGGCTTTACTTGTACAGCTCGT-3′ (SEQ ID NO:17); restriction sites underlined). The PCR products were gel-extracted, cut with Xba I and Xho I, and ligated between Xba I/Xho I sites in the polylinker of pBI-PhylloProm to create in-frame fusions with the T-Phylloplanin start codon and signal sequence. These constructs were transformed into Agrobacterium tumefaciens GV3101 by triparental mating, and introduced into TI 1068 using the leaf disk method (Horsch et al., 1985). Kanamycin-resistant plantlets were derived from kanamycin-resistant callus tissue and transferred to soil. Leaf disks from pBI-PhylloProm:GUS explants were stained for GUS activity by incubation with 0.1% X-gluc (Jefferson, 1987) and photographed. Leaf disks from pBI-PhylloProm:GFP explants were magnified and photographed using a Zeiss Axioplan-2 imaging system.

Bioinformatic analysis. Homologous open reading frames of selected cDNA or EST sequences giving significant (e-value cutoff 10e-04) BLASTn, BLASTp, and tBLASTx (Altschul et al., 1990) scores against T-Phylloplanin nucleotide and amino acid sequences were first analyzed for the presence of signal peptides using TargetP. A multiple alignment of protein sequences with the predicted signal peptides removed was performed using the CLUSTALW algorithm (DNASTAR Lasergene software, Madison, Wis.). An unrooted phylogenetic tree was constructed using the maximum parsimony algorithm PROTPARS in the PHYLIP version 3.63 software package (Felsenstein, 2004), and tree robustness was estimated with 1000 bootstrapped data sets. The tree was displayed with the TREEVIEW version 3.2 software (Page, 1996).

Sequence data from this article have been deposited with the EMBL/GenBank data libraries under accession number AY705384.

REFERENCES

Throughout this disclosure the following references have been cited and are incorporated herein:

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1. A method for generating excreted gene products in a plant, said method comprising: generating a nucleic acid fusion construct comprising a phylloplanin promoter having the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 and a selected non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence whose transcription product is to be expressed and delivered to an aerial surface of a plant; transfecting plant cells with the nucleic acid fusion construct resulting in plant cells stably transformed; and allowing the plant cells to regenerate into a whole plant such that cells at the aerial surface are transgenic and express a transcription product of the non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence, which product is excreted from the plant cells.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising collecting the transcription product from the aerial surface of the plant.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transcription product confers pest resistance to the plant.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transcription product confers disease resistance to the plant.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transcription product confers improved stress resistance to the plant.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein the transcription product confers fungal resistance to the plant.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plant cells are from a plant species selected from the group consisting of Medicago sp., Trifolium sp., Ulmus sp., Pyrus malus, Prunus armeniaca, Cynara acolymus, Asparagus officinale, Hordeum sp., Galium sp., Beta vulgaris, Prunus serotina, Vigna sinensis, Nyssa sylvatica, Quercus sp., Artocarpus altilis, Brassica sp., Andropogon scoparius, Fagopyrum sagittatum, Manihot esculenta, Apium graveolens, Agropyron desefforum, Cornus florida, Phaseolus sp., Triticum sp., Oenothera caespitosa, Carya sp., Lactuca sp., Impatiens sp., Helianthus sp., Ledum decumbens, Astragalus pattersoni, Setaria italica, Vaccinium mytrillus, Avena sativa, Petroselinum crispum, Pastinaca sativa, Pisum sp., Prunus sp., Pyrus communis, Musa paradisiaca, Astragalus preussii, Raphanus sativus, Secalse cereale, Sassafras albidum, Atriplex confertifolia, Tillandsia usneoides, Spinacia oleracea, Liquidambar styraciflua, Linaria triphylla, Liriodendron tulipfera, Vicia sp., Citrullus vulgaris, Melilotus sp., Salix sp., Rhus copallina, Nicotiana sp., Vitis sp., Datura sp., Medicago sp., Lycopersicon sp., Solanum sp., Capsicum sp., Cucumis sp., Fragaria sp., Petunia sp., Geranium sp., Coleus sp., Stevia sp., Oryza sp., Nepeta sp., Zea mays, Glycine max, and Arabidopsis thaliana.
 8. An isolated nucleic acid sequence comprising a nucleic acid fusion construct comprising the phylloplanin promoter of SEQ ID NO:1 operably linked to a selected non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence.
 9. The isolated nucleic acid sequence of claim 8, wherein the non-phylloplanin nucleic acid sequence encodes an amino acid sequence which is one of a pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, or nutriceutical agent. 